Rather than taking the usual approach this week, I thought I’d offer up something that’s a little more of a grab bag of what’s up in the sports world. Sure, it may not be straightforward, but what is anymore?

STATE OF THE CONFERENCE

Let’s start off with a bit of a State of the Union address for the Pacific-10 Conference. Amidst the marketing machine that Stanford football has become, it may be difficult to remember that the Cardinal isn’t alone with its “Our house. Our team. Our dream.” Here’s the short skinny on all of the Pac-10 teams, north to south:

Washington

What appeared to be a breakthrough 2006 season went down the tubes when the team’s best player got hurt. After two years at the helm of a completely forlorn program, Tyrone Willingham is on the hot seat in the eyes of the fans. Husky Nation apparently longs for the days of Don James and NCAA probation. Whether or not Willingham is the man for the job, UW asked for these growing pains when they hired Slick Rick Neuheisel.

Washington State

Injuries derailed the Cougars’ late-season bid for a bowl game, and personnel losses have left this year’s team with serious holes. WSU has the Pac-10’s most experienced quarterback in Alex Brink, but without some pleasant surprises, this could be the end of the line in the Bill Doba era.

Oregon

A program that needs to prove its toughness and its ability to finish a season might be helped or hurt by a simmering quarterback controversy and a new offensive coordinator. Defensive losses since the spring won’t help matters either.

Oregon State

The conference’s most pleasant surprise punctuated last season with a last-second comeback win in the Sun Bowl. A new quarterback is only one of several puzzles for Mike Riley, one of the nation’s most underrated coaches.

California

Despite losses at tailback and defensive line, Cal looks to keep the engine humming for a sixth-straight winning season. The pressure is on early — the Bears get a season-opening chance to avenge last year’s pounding at the hands of the Tennessee Volunteers.

Stanford

With new head coach Jim Harbaugh highlighting athletic director Bob Bowlsby’s first full season, Cardinal football is in great position to improve. But with injuries, depth issues and a tough schedule, the team could be much better and not do any better than last year’s 1-11 record.

UCLA

A wildly inconsistent 2006 season has been largely forgotten in favor of the Bruins’ victory over USC. Unless something has changed in Westwood, don’t expect to see the same UCLA team two weeks in a row.

Southern California

The Trojans are loaded and lauded — what else is new? USC likely won’t give away ballgames the way it did last year; opponents will have to beat them straight up. Pete Carroll could be on the brink of legend status in modern-day college football.

Arizona State

Ever since its 1997 Rose Bowl loss, this has been a head-case program that could never get over the hump. Dirk Koetter, the coach who let the players pick the 2006 starting quarterback, was sent packing. Say what you will about new Sun Devil coach Dennis Erickson, but he knows how to win.

Arizona

Despite improved recruiting and defensive performance, the Wildcats have been a zoo of offensive ineptitude. Coach Mike Stoops is running out of time to prove himself — if shifty QB Willie Tuitama can’t stay healthy, the only question in Tucson will be: “Is it basketball season yet?”

BAG THE COACHES’ POLL

Someone has to say it: the college football coaches’ poll is a fraud. It should be abolished.

On its face, the concept seems sound: who better to evaluate football teams than coaches? Once you go beneath that thin veneer, though, its failures are obvious. Head coaches don’t have the time to watch other teams’ games. They watch their own team’s tape, and they scout the opponent. Maybe there are some highlights in between, but nothing close to comprehensive study.

Coaches must either rank teams in ignorance (making the poll’s results garbage), or hand off the task to someone in the know (crossing the line of fraud). Both cases happen and they both stink.

This is without mentioning the conflict of interest. With million-dollar bowl payouts and incentive bonuses on the line, manipulating the system (by voting rival bowl candidates down, or ranking opponents up to raise strength-of-schedule) is a temptation the public can’t disregard. College coaches have enough to do without facing a weekly ethical crisis.

CELEBRITY STALKERS ON CABLE

Last Sunday, ESPN broadcast a four-minute infomercial for Cleveland quarterback Brady Quinn disguised as the highlights of the Browns-Lions preseason game. We kept getting updates from Linda Cohn, highlighting Quinn’s every move as he waited to go into the game. (“He’s chomping at the bit ... finally going to come into the game ...”) We saw almost as many clips of him on the sideline as we did of actual football.

It was a reprise of the worldwide leader’s fulsome NFL Draft coverage, stalking Notre Dame’s Quinn and Stanford’s Trent Edwards through their frustrating afternoons of being picked lower than expected.

Given this warmup, I fully expect to see an ESPN reality show starring Quinn, which could keep him busy until he wins the starting job. That’s if we get to see the games at all — we are long past the time when ESPN showed sports.